Today is a good day

[watervole]

Some days, you just feel good, without being entirely sure why.  I guess the sun has been shining, we've done loads of work on the allotment, the baby dunnocks in the garden have been vocal on top of the mulberry tree (they flick their tails while calling 'feed me, feed me!'), I just beat Richard at 'Ticket to Ride' by tactics rather than good luck, and life is generally getting better all round.

Today's tip for being happy:

Plant ivy.  Overgrown ivy on walls and fences is the perfect des res for dunnocks. 


This year, we've had blue tits in the nest box (they one they turned their noses up at last year), dunnocks in the ivy, and right now, the blackbirds are working hard at their nest in the wisteria over the lounge window.

Remember, climbing plants make excellent cover for birds.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm. I have a wall covered with ivy, but I don't think I've ever seen any birds in it. Maybe natives don't like this foreign plant.

[mrs-dai-bread-1.livejournal.com]

Or maybe they're in there, but you've never noticed them?

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I have an old coal house and Ty Bach shrouded in a combination of ivy and climbing hydrangea and a garden full of what I thought were sparrows, looking at the picture of a dunnock some could be dunnocks. wild gardens rule.

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

I've got lots of plants and ivy in the back yard, but also a cat (see icon) who loves to jump at birds from behind a plant. Fortunately he rarely catches one.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Ah cats! I love them as individuals and hate them as a species. The wildlife toll averages 30 kills per cat per year.

I'd add a thorny bush below the ivy. Hawthorn or pyracantha or even blackthorn. That improves cat protection quite a lot.

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

I could, but IMO my back yard belongs to my cats. And like I said, Pietje rarely catches one and there are always plenty of birds around.

As for cats being damaging to wildlife: I don't know about that. Cats have been around for so long, that the wildlife has evolved to deal with them.

Farming, on the other hand, has changed a great deal during the last century, and some of those changes, such as the use of pesticides, have been a lot more damaging to wildlife than all the cats combined. Fortunately, modern day farmers don't use so many pesticides anymore.

Sparrows have been dying out in the cities mainly because they can find far fewer places to breed. They like to breed under roof tiles, but with modern houses this is often no longer possible. When my roof is replaced (which will have to happen sometime in the next ten years), I'll use some of those special tiles that sparrows can use for nesting space. If everyone did that, there'd be many more birds around, regardless of the number of cats.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

IMO my back yard belongs to my cats. And like I said, Pietje rarely catches one and there are always plenty of birds around.


You can only judge by the ones you see him bring back.


As for cats being damaging to wildlife: I don't know about that. Cats have been around for so long, that the wildlife has evolved to deal with them.

They have indeed, but cats in urban areas are at a population density far far greater than they would be in the wild. Thus, they take a far higher percentage of the bird population than they would naturally.


Farming, on the other hand, has changed a great deal during the last century, and some of those changes, such as the use of pesticides, have been a lot more damaging to wildlife than all the cats combined. Fortunately, modern day farmers don't use so many pesticides anymore.

Here, I agree with you. And habitat loss caused by loss of hedges and changes in farming patterns is just as damaging as pesticides to many species.


Sparrows have been dying out in the cities mainly because they can find far fewer places to breed. They like to breed under roof tiles, but with modern houses this is often no longer possible. When my roof is replaced (which will have to happen sometime in the next ten years), I'll use some of those special tiles that sparrows can use for nesting space. If everyone did that, there'd be many more birds around, regardless of the number of cats.

Agreed also. Although it's more complex than just lack of breeding spaces. THere's also a lack of insect food for the young - sparrow feed on inscets for the first few days of life and the modern habit of spraying everything in sight is destroying the food supply. I get a lot of young sparrows in my garden because the parents come here to catch things like damsel flies. They then spend most of the year in the nice prickly hedge, but they go elsewhere to breed (ignoring my special sparrow nest box - boo hoo).

I think the roof tile is a great idea.

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

I never spray, if only because I'd be poisoning my own cats! When I work in my yard, a blackbird often comes by to collect the red thingies that'll become butterflies later on (pupae? don't remember the right word) which come up from the soil when I get rid of weeds. The cat I had until two years ago (Kleintje, see icon) often tried to catch this blackbird, but she was too old and a bit arthritic. The blackbird mainly just ignored her and she got so frustrated with that, that she'd sit beside me with her back turned to the offending bird. Hee. Birds can be fun!